Carpenter Show Keeps Abreast of Feminism

GALLERY

Sharp Appetites

by Lilla LoCurto and Bill Outcault

at the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts

through June 12th

It's not just about breasts. "Sharp Appetites" (or what people on campus have nicknamed the "Breast Exhibition") is about female sexuality as dictated by a male-oriented society. Lilla LoCurto and Bill Outcault, the artists of the exhibition at the Carpenter Center, explore the "many meanings in today's society" of the female body by focusing on the perceptions and treatment of women's breasts. Creating the ambience of a hospital with steel gurnies and fluid bags, the artists force the audience to view the display with the Foucaultian clinical gaze that has become the bedrock of post-modern criticism. "Sharp Appetites" intelligently examines the history and contemporary situation of sexual politics with an analytical eye. Thought provoking and intelligent, the exhibition balances serious issues with biting criticism and wit.

"Sharp Appetites" consists of three different approaches to the phenomenon of the female body in visual culture. "Fleshbags" is the most ambitious part of the exhibition because it spans the historical scope of the construction of female sexuality. Displays ranging from details of Botticelli's "Venus" to Manet's "Olympia" to Playboy cartoons remind the viewer that this is not just a criticism of a contemporary issue, but rather the problematic perceptions of the female body have been deeply imbedded and indoctrinated into social standards. The responsibility of art is a central issue; female nudes once considered the norm for art are now re-evaluated in terms of their ramifications for female sexuality. A Playboy cartoon best summarizes the idea. It depicts a man in a museum looking at what appears to be a modern painting. Abstract colorful planes speckle the canvas, but the man's figurative interpretation becomes visible: he reconstructs the forms to create a faceless female figure. He smiles smugly because of what he believes to be his private image, although it is in fact an image provoked by social standards.

Women fondling themselves, or nudes smiling at the camera are all objectified and reduced to the simple expression of their bodies. The artists seal photos or reproductions in polyethlene bags and fill them with a clear gel, resembling the silicone used for breast augmentation. Others contain a milk-like fluid to conjure images of lactation. The juxtaposition of these different bags imply the early absorption and acceptance of male-dictated femininity by linking these sexual pictures with a universal image of childhood.

The medical aspect of the exhibition continues in "Pinnacles of Desire." The artists replace the gurnies with steel metal stands that contain video monitors, and the bags are now silicone breast implants. The emphasis shifts to a more contemporary issue--or rather the latest development of the female body: breast augmentation as the product of commercialized sex. It is no coincidence that the metal apparatus mimics the configuration of a pair of breasts. The stands are large, square and metal, but they convey the symmetry and preposterous nature of surgically enhanced breasts. A montage of porno clips plays on one screen (or nipple, as the case may be). However, a breast implant rests on the screen itself, distorting the image. A plastic casing forces the viewer to stare at the monitor in order to comprehend the video. After an initial shock, the audience becomes conscious of the nature of its gaze: the clinical yet voyeuristic setting renders it incredibly real and perverse. On the other monitor, an educational program informs the viewer of the medical aspects of breast feeding. Again, childhood and sexuality are linked, yet warped due to the sexualization and commodification of the female body.

Looking through the breast implants has powerful effects. In the porno montage, they unmask the misogyny and artificial sex appeal of breasts. With these bags of silicone, these porno actresses have a commodity value. They remain nameless, but hyper-sexualized. In the case of the breast-feeding film, the bags remind the viewer of the physiological value of breasts that a male-oriented culture has trivialized and reduced to a sexual function. In the light of the recent problems with breast augmentation, LoCurto and Outcault offer the viewer a more natural alternative perspective of the female body.

The last segment of the exhibition, "Lodestones," summarizes the artists' facetious view of breast augmentation. Two ridiculously enormous breasts with noticeably small nipples sit on a slightly elevated platform. They are unevenly shaped to exaggerate the hideous imperfection of breast augmentation. The audience visualizes a reclining woman, as the breasts lie on a bed-like platform. The artists reduce the woman to the sexual organs; her breasts now signify and define female sexuality. The issue at hand slaps the audience in the face--the Playboy cartoon of the man in the museum is put into practice. The viewer, like the man, is caught constructing the image of the woman.

"Sharp Appetites" contributes to the discourse of sexual politics of post-modern society. LoCurto and Outcault build on Foucault's clinical gaze to examine the history and current issues of sexuality. They neatly finish the exhibition by placing the viewers on the operating table and reflecting the gaze back onto themselves. This is an enlightening precursor to "Power, Pleasure, Pain" at the Fogg Museum, which addresses similar issues in a similarly intelligent and serious manner. LoCurto and Outcault prompt the observer to rethink everyday images that constitute contemporary culture.